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Annenberg Learner: Videos for Content Area Literacy

I am excited this week to be exploring the resources now available from Annenberg Learner and specific to disciplinary literacy. These are videos of students working on developing their literacy skills in a range of core subject areas.

I'm looking forward to being able to use these videos as starting points for conversations with my colleagues and administrators about what literacy looks like in all subject areas, not just English.

I also appreciate that the collection is searchable by discipline and topics like close reading, differentiation, gradual release of responsibility etc. It makes it easy for me to narrow down my search and preview the videos I might want to use.

Full disclosure, the reason I know about this project is because my classroom is one of the many that were filmed for the collection. It's not possible to search by teacher, so if you really want to see me or my classroom you'll need to look here and here, but you may also spot me in some of the expert commentary videos. My classroom shows up as an example sometimes while leading educational researchers talk about current trends in literacy instruction.

If you are a literacy coach, a resource teacher, an administrator, or anyone else responsible for helping teachers implement Common Core or develop student literacy then you will appreciate the resources from Annenberg Learner as much as I do.

Up next...

SAMR, developed by Ruben Puentedura, is one model for examining the evolution of tech integration in classrooms. It focuses on the type of work students are doing and how much that work deviates from traditional classroom practices. In a sense, it measures the future against the past. This four minute video is great if you would like to hear him explain it in his own words.

I like the SAMR model and I think it does what models are supposed to do, it get us talking and thinking about the work going on in our classrooms. This graphic shows the progression of a teacher's thinking with a bit of humor too.

As a model though, I think SAMR has some issues we need to talk and think about more. This is my list of concerns.

For further exploration:

It privileges the modification and redefinition stages such that good teaching without tech is marginalized. Even after five years of 1:1 I still have a few fabulous lessons that just work better on paper. They are worth keeping even if they do n…

Considering National Boards? I recommend the process, but you should know what you are getting into. Start early and get organized.

In the spring of 2016 I began pursuing National Board Certification for teaching. I know eventually someone will ask me for my thoughts and advice about that process, so I'll capture them now while the experience is fresh. Because I teach 9th grade, and previously taught middle school for ten years, I decided to do my NBCT in the area of Young Adolescent ELA. (Yes, I also taught 11th grade for six years, but that was a while ago.)

Though some do it in one year, I'm taking two years to complete my NBCT. Last summer, at a small local conference, I stumbled into a conversation about National Boards and happened to find out that my County Office of Education sponsored a support program. I was just in time to sign up. Through that program I got early advice and support to help me understand expectations and deadlines. The amazing staff at the County O…

It happens to all of us sometimes. Your perfectly planned lesson goes just a bit faster than you expected and you have a few minutes left at the end of class. Or maybe your students have been showing some excellent focus on their projects and you want to give them a few minutes of fun. My students have to put their laptops in a cart at the end of class and that takes a few minutes. For whatever reason it's good to have a few things you can pull up fast and engage students with for those last few minutes. These are some of my favorites. Share your's in the comments.

GeoGuesser:https://geoguessr.com/
This site drops you at a spot in the world and you have to guess where you are. It's good for a quick lesson in observing details. It's funny how often it seems like the picture seems to be from one place, but it really a whole different continent. I'll have one student come up to play, but the whole class loves to watch and make suggestions. Pro tip, teach them they can…